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Showing posts with label Lilies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lilies. Show all posts

Apr 5, 2012

Bulb Flowers and the Celebration of Rebirth

Easter holds different meanings for everyone. For Sun Valley, aside from the traditional denotations, this holiday connotes the blooming of bulb flowers - the awakening of bulb flowers from their winter slumber goes hand in hand with the celebration of rebirth.

As you may know already, we grow our core bulb flowers (tulips, lilies and irises) year-round, but their aesthetic is decidedly springy this time of year! Might I suggest you celebrate spring's awakening by bringing some cut bulb flowers into your home this weekend?


 

[The pictures above represent some of our favorite spring bulb flowers enhanced with bear grass. They are as follows: Tulips, Stargazer Lilies, Telstar Irises and Freesias.]

"The Amen of nature is always a flower." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, 19th C American writer

Happy Easter!

Mar 20, 2012

Springing Forward and Up

Today is the Vernal (or Spring) Equinox, meaning Earth's northern hemisphere is about to tilt towards the sun, thus prolonging daylight hours. In other words, we're leaving winter in our rear view mirror!

"Springing forward" brings on a few changes around our Sun Valley farms, as you might imagine. For example, longer daylight hours equate to less need for the use of growing lights in the greenhouses. More significantly, from today's Vernal Equinox to its counterpart (Autumnal Equinox), our core crops are essentially relocating from one California farm to the other.

Core crops are mostly grown in Arcata during the spring and summer
Over the next few months, our Arcata farm, nestled in the Pacific Northwest right in the heart of the Redwoods, will have an ideal climate for growing field, hoophouse and greenhouse crops, like Iris, Asiatic Lilies and Oriental Lilies respectively. Steady moderate temperatures, an abundance of moisture, and the right amount of sunlight are just what the farmer ordered this time of year!   

Most of the core crop production moves to Oxnard for the fall and winter
Alternately, the ever-warm and sunny - except for right now with the crazy weather patterns of late - Oxnard farm in southern California allows us to grow the flowers mentioned above during the winter, when Arcata tends to be under a constant blanket of rain clouds. Even with shorter days, the Oxnard farm gets plenty of sunlight and its winter climate is just right for crops that love a little warmth, like Freesia, Brassica and Dubium. (I'll be talking all about Freesia next week, so stay tuned!) 

Chasing the weather from our NorCal farm to the SoCal farm and back is one of the factors that allow us to grow our core crops year-round nearly seamlessly. (In case you're wondering, the other factors include ample cooler space and hardworking flower farmers!) Now that the days are getting longer than the nights, it's time for our flowers to head north!

(Note: the aerial pictures above are a little dated - I'll call them "vintage" - but they give you the general idea of our farms!)

Oct 7, 2011

Sun Valley's Top 3 Fall Colors


As the air gets a bit crisper, leaves crunch under our feet, and (up here in Humboldt) rain pours on our heads, we can all truly feel fall setting in. You can even smell it, with scents like wood-burning stoves and apple crisp wafting through the air. But what does fall look like?

Around the Sun Valley farm, it's colorful! Although, not in a "spring colorful" sort of way - it's a bit more rustic. I guess it's just how you'd imagine fall looking!

Here are the Top 3 fall colors I've been seeing around the farm lately:

Fresh purple Cotinus
1. Deep Purple
As green foliage naturally starts to fade away with the warm weather, rich purple comes in the form of Cotinus (which I've mentioned once or twice before - click here and here to read more about it). Cotinus leaves are truly a treat for the eyes, with their tricky hints of dark green and even reddish-pink. The dark coloring of Cotinus makes it the perfect compliment to any type of fall arrangement, be it classic, contemporary or spooky!

2. Marbled!
Another crop you might have heard me mention lately is Antique Hydrangeas. (Click here for the latest Hydrangea post.) These huge mop tops are full of burgundies, greens, blues, purples and several other colors when you look up close. I suppose Antique Hydrangea is exactly what I meant by "rustic."

A bunch of marbled Antique Hydrangeas
3. Orange
Think pumpkin patches, falling leaves, candy corn... Orange is the unofficial color of the season. Naturally, we have plenty of Tulips, Love and Royal Lilies, and crops just coming in, like Ilex and Chinese Lanterns, that help put the Orange in your cornucopia!

Fresh orange Tulips, ready to ship
4. Don't forget about... I know this is a Top 3 list, but I certainly don't want to sell the rest of the fall colors short. I won't list them off, but I'll put it this way: if you can imagine a color, I'm sure we've got a flower for that.

Now you tell me: Did I leave anything out? What colors do you think should have made the top 3 list?

Aug 12, 2011

Lily's Boots, Love and Royal Lilies (Watch the Video!)




Love and Royal Lilies fill out a fall arrangement (along with Tulips, Gerbera and Sonata Lilies)

This week, I spent some time getting to know some of the other Lily(s) on the farm - the ones that go by the names of Love and Royal, to be exact. (Love Lilies are Sun Valley's Asiatic Lilies, and Royal Lilies are our Asiatic Longiflorum Hybrid Lilies - LA Hybrids.) On Monday, I came to the realization that I knew quite little about the complete growing process of these flowers that share my name. So yesterday, I arranged to meet with Tim, one of our lead Growers. What I thought would be more like an informational interview turned into a full-blown tour of the entire Love and Royal Lily growing process, from bulb cooler to warehouse, complete with a hands-on planting experience! I captured most of the experience in pictures and video, so enjoy the tour!





Tim, the tour guide

We started our journey in the Lily coolers, where the bulbs, which come in from Holland throughout the year (but mostly in the fall), are stored in peat moss, which is a perfect medium for keeping the bulbs moist, but not too moist, and for keeping the bulbs oxygenated while they slumber in the winter-weather coolers.





Crates full of Lily bulbs in the cooler




Tim displays the bulbs in peat moss

Each week, the bulbs are pulled out of the coolers about three days before they are ready to be planted in Hoophouses so they can thaw. Royals and Loves love growing in the ground and have an affinity for warm days and cool nights, which is why they're grown in Arcata Hoophouses in the summer and Oxnard Hoophouses in the winter. These Hoophouses, called "Cold Frames" in grower speak, actually have to be "pre-watered" before the bulbs can be planted (more on planting in a minute). Tim can actually power the irrigation system from his phone, albeit not as easily as doing it in person. Ah, modern technology! 





A misty Hoophouse being "pre-watered"

Once the soil has the right level of moisture, the Love and Royal Lilies are planted right into the ground by quick-handed Team Members and the "Planting Machine." (We love our technical terms here at the farm!) As it moves along a pipe track, the machine drills a line of holes across the dirt, which the team members quickly fill with bulbs. A horizontal bar at the back of the machine sweeps dirt into the planted holes. This machine enables the Team to plant literally thousands of bulbs each day!





The "Planting Machine"




A Planting Team Member - ready for his close-up!

Always up for a challenge, Tim and I tried our hands at the planting machine during the Planting Team's break. You can see us in action in the video below!




It turns out I'm not quite as coordinated as I had once believed. (Nor was Tim!) It was a great learning experience nonetheless!

Finally, the Planting Team lay drip tape, which supplies an appropriate amount of water and fertilizer directly to the Lilies' roots systems, and then they lay a wire grid, which will be raised with the Lilies as they grow to help keep them growing tall and straight.




Baby Lilies peeking up through drip tape and wire

And that, my friends, is the first part of the Love and Royal Lilies story. At this point, you've probably got enough to go on for the weekend. Please check in next week for the rest of their journey at Sun Valley - growing, harvesting and bunching!

Aug 3, 2011

Do you QR?


I spend a lot of time talking about our flowers, how they're grown, their vase life and that kind of thing, but I'm switching gears today. I'm talking about the phenomenon that occurs when flowers, which have been around since the dawn of time, meet cutting-edge, "futuristic" technology. I'm talking QR codes.

Quick Response codes, called QR codes by those in the know, aren't really the latest technology out there today by techie standards, but they're still taking some time to infiltrate into everyday life. Sun Valley used the nifty matrix barcodes for the first time at the IFE trade show in June, and now we're looking for new ways to implement them. That's why I want to know a few things from you:

Let's start simple. Do you know what a QR code is?
For those who don't, here's what it looks like...



For more information on QR codes, scan the image above (you need a smart phone to do this). Here's how:

1. Install a QR reader app on your phone, which you can search for in your app store by typing "QR reader" 2. Scan the code above by holding the phone up to it (you have to be in the app when you do this)
3. See where it takes you!

Moving on...

Do you scan QR codes?
When you see them in magazines, on posters, or on packaging, do you feel the urge to scan them to see what they're all about?

Do you use QR codes?
For those of you in the flower business, do you use them in any of your promotional materials? What kinds of things do you link them to? Do you find them useful and/or successful?

What can our QR code do for you?
If we were to stick a QR code on, say, a bunch of 10 stem tulips, what would you want it to link to? For example, do you think your customers would be interested in learning more about our farm by watching our uBloom videos (Arcata and Oxnard)? Or what about linking them to an informational page (Tulip Care Tips or Tulip Resource Page)? How about coupons or contests? Any other suggestions?

The graph below shows the most common reasons consumers scan QR codes, according to a recent study by MGH.

(Source: MGH 2011)
I would really apprectiate some feedback on these questions. If you've got any input, please leave it in the Comments, or talk to your sales rep about it. Until then...


Fun facts and clever uses for QR codes


Qr code stats revealed (MGH Study 2011)
 


Jul 30, 2011

Lily's Boots: Why Brides Need Flowers to Take the Plunge



Dress               Check!
Venue              Check!
Invitations         Check!
Flowers            Check!
Cake...
               
Last night, I sat down with a friend to help her choose flowers for her upcoming wedding. I was happy to point her in the direction of flowers that suit her taste, show her some unique varieties, and tell her how to take care of them all the way from the shop to the alter. (I couldn't have done that a year ago.) Mostly, I was happy because she was happy, and I could feel her elation grow with the addition of each Green Ball and Chamomile Button. This inspired me to take Lily's Boots down the aisle for today's post.

Since wedding season is in full swing (and let's be honest, because I'm a girl), I've been perusing the wedding blogs to keep my finger on the pulse of the latest trends, especially floral, for tying the knot. While I've noticed a few overlapping themes (green wedding, outdoor wedding, Anthropologie wedding, etc.), what resounds the most is that today's weddings are all about individuality, not necessarily the latest trends. And the flowers reflect that. Throughout my quest to stay current on today's most stylish vow swaps, I've seen arrangements taller than my house and wild flowers placed in mason jars. I've seen flowers in the hair, on the cake, in Radio Flyers, and floating in ponds. I've seen real flowers accompanied by larger-than life paper flowers painstakingly cut and pieced together by hand. Elaborate, simple. Traditional, contemporary. Monochromatic, multi-colored. The point is I've seen flowers in 99.9% of photos depicting folks enjoying their big day.

The greater point is, after all this time, most people still consider flowers one of the staples of their ceremonies and receptions. The bouquet, the flower girl, the centerpieces - they haven't gone anywhere. Even as cake is phased out by cupcakes and French pastries, puffy bridesmaid dresses are replaced by fashion-forward dresses that can actually be reworn, and tuxedos make room for denim, flowers remain front and center. As you might imagine, I have a few theories as to why flowers continue to show up at each and every matrimonial ceremony.

1. Style
What bride doesn't want her day to be beautiful, both emotionally and aesthetically? I think most of us can agree that the natural beauty of flowers is enough to fill any venue, be it a Four Seasons or a backyard barn, with a touch of class, elegance and whimsy.

2. Self-expression
As I mentioned before, today's couples are all about showcasing what makes their loving relationship unique. Given the hundreds of thousands of flower varieties out there, and then multiplying them by the endless ways they can be arranged, my calculations show that there are infinite ways to use flowers as focal points. Not only that, but with various symbolic meanings, emotional triggers and signature shapes and colors, the flowers a couple chooses for their wedding can actual communicate who they are as people.

3. Happiness
I've harped on about this before, but flowers are shown to truly make people happy. On an already joyous occasion, why not add a little emotional buffer, like a happiness insurance policy? You know, just in case of rain or some other wedding day stressor. Brides must already be privy to this flowers and happiness information because they're still positioning flowers in every visual field in their marriage site.

For whatever the reason they love flowers, I love that brides still love them. I'll admit that as a grower, Sun Valley isn't directly involved in weddings, but brides indirectly account for a large portion of the demand for our flowers. So as it turns out, I'm not the only one at the farm paying attention to trends. Like most brides, our production team plan well in advance (years even) to make sure we have just the right flowers at the right time. Year-round availability and seasonally appropriate coloring of our core crops (Tulips, Lilies, Irises), plus seasonal items like Montbretia, Cotinus and Rosehips help us fill bridal bouquets with the flowers brides want, when they want them. And if what we do here at our farm can ultimately make brides feel stylish, unique and (for Pete's sake) happier, then I'm thrilled that I'm a part of it!



To get an idea of what we have available this season, check out our Sun Valley Showroom: http://www.thesunvalleygroup.com/thesunvalleygroup/Showroom2.cfm?site=svf

Jul 22, 2011

Lily's Boots: Sun Valley's Open House



This week, I've decided to write about where my boots are going, not where they've been. On Sunday, they're bringing me right back here to our farm for our 24th annual Open House. I'm very excited for the event, as it's my first time and I've heard there's a lot to see and do. Yes, I'll be working during the show, but I still intend to check a few things out! Here's what I'm told you (and I) should see and do:

1. How we do things here.
Get an idea of how and where our Tulips, Asiatic lilies and Oriental lilies are planted, grown, harvested and bunched by taking a Guided Tour of the Greenhouses. Also check out how we pack our products at the Packing Display and see how we pasteurize our soil at the Soil Steaming Display. Finally, take a Hayride past our hoophouses and fields, where crops like Hydrangea and Iris are growing.


A hayride takes off for the fields (Open House 2010)

2. "Made in America" Design Show.
Floral designers from all over California and Oregon will  showcase their talent while taking you on a journey through "Roaring 20's," "Retro 40's," "Rock n' Roll 50's, 60's, and 70's, " and "Futuristic" eras with their designs. First, second and third place winners will be chosen for each category, and a Best in Show winner will be chosen from the first place category winners. Winners will be announced at 3:00 pm. The public (that means you!) will also be able to vote on their favorite design for the Pople's Choice Award.


The Best in Show Winner of 2010

3. The Masters in Action.
The Floral Design Show judges will also put on a show of their own - this is a must-see! Returning judges, Darlene Montgomoery CCE, MFD and Win Gonzalez, Jr. (former President of the Northwest chapter of AIFD), and newcomer Lily Chan (Vice President of the Northwest chapter of AIFD) will demonstrate their expertise on stage in the Main Showroom starting at 1:00 pm.


Darlene Montgomery gives a design presentation (Open House 2010)

4. Pick up bulbs and buy our flowers!
If you pre-ordered bulbs on our website, then you'll be able to pick them up at the General Store during the show. Also, we'll have a great range of our fresh flowers for sale, so get there early for the best selection!


Flowers and Bulbs for sale and pick-up (2010 Open House)

5. Entertainment for the whole family
All of the floral fun will be complimented by live music, food and refreshments, and a the ever-popular Kiddie Corner. So in between tours, shows and purchases, relax and recharge your batteries with a coffee or give the Jolly Jump a whirl (if you're a kid, of course)!


Lucky sisters bring home flowers! (Open House 2010)
 There's clearly plenty to keep you and me busy this coming Sunday. Everyone at the farm is excited to see familiar faces from the local community and our out-of-towner friends and family. If you're in the area on Sunday, please pop in at the farm and say hello!

Sun Valley's 24th Annual Open House
Where: 3160 Upper Bay Rd., Arcata, CA
When: Sunday, July 24th, 12 - 4 pm
Contact: Tina Uhl, (707) 825-5827
http://www.tsvg.com/
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